A new type of amperometric blosensor for glucose was fabricated using a Na+/D-glucose cotransporter as the signal-transducing sensory element that exploits the D-glucose-triggered Na+ ion current through bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs). The planar BLM was formed by the folding method across a small aperture of a thin Teflon film. The Na+/D-glucose cotransporter, isolated and purified from small intestinal brush border membrane of guinea pigs, was embedded into BLMs through proteoliposomes. The number of the protein molecules thus incorporated in the present sensing membrane was estimated to be ca. 10(7). The sensor response was measured as an ionic current through the BLM arising from cotransported Na+ ion flux under a constant applied potential and was only induced by D-glucose above 10(-9) M, but not by the other monosaccharides except for D-galactose. The effect of applied potentials, Na+ and K+ ion concentrations, and the addition of a competitive inhibitor, phlorizin, were scrutinized to characterize the sensor output. The results were briefly discussed in terms of the potential use of the Na+/D-glucose cotransporter as a sensory element for D-glucose.